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The history of Hersheypark begins with the founding of the town of Hershey in 1903. The owner of the Hershey Chocolate Company surveyed a nearby area of land, which was to become a leisure park for the employees of his chocolate company. People began visiting the grounds of the future park in 1904 and 1905, while the park's first pavilion was built in the fall of 1905. The park was formally opened on May 30, 1906, when the park opened as Hershey Park. The park slowly added rides until 1923, when the first roller coaster, Wild Cat, was built. From then on, rides were regularly added, except during World War II. The park was redeveloped into Hersheypark in 1970, through a multi-phase project. Since then, the park has added ten roller coasters, expanded to over 110 acres, and features many other attractions including shows with sea lions, well-known acts including Weird Al Yankovic and Duff Goldman from Charm City Cakes in the Hersheypark Amphitheater, and a short-lived laser light show. == 1903-1906: The formation of the town and park == On January 26, 1903, it became publicly known that Milton S. Hershey made the decision to build a chocolate factory on the farms to the south west of Derry Church and Spring Creek, Pennsylvania. Hershey acquired over 400 acres of land in his initial purchase, which also included water rights to Spring Creek. The land along straddling along Spring Creek, and the land north to nearby Union Deposit, was not included with the initial purchases. Having control of the water rights to Spring Creek, Hershey gained control of Brecht's dam, which was to be "converted into a lake for boating and other purposes of recreation for the town and Mr. Hershey's employes ()." In mid-1904, Hershey offered a $100 prize to the person who suggested "the most suitable name" for the new town. The prize was awarded to Mrs. T.K. Doyle of Wilkes-Barre, PA on September 1, her submission being Hersheykoko. The name wasn't to take official effect until mid-1905. However, by that time, the "koko" part of the name fell out of use and on June 1, 1905, the newborn town was officially named Hershey. At the same time, Hershey and several business partners, involved with the chocolate company, created the Hershey Trust Company, which would becoming the owner of the future amusement park after Hershey's death in 1945, and the Hershey Improvement Company, which would later be merged with the park and other non-chocolate related operations to form Hershey Estates. With the chocolate factory and the relocation of the Hershey Chocolate Company to Hershey completed in June 1905, construction of infrastructure in the town began to accelerate, and development of a recreational park began. In the fall of 1905, a pavilion was constructed on an area of town designated as West End Park, or more commonly, Hershey Park; this was the area of the designated park grounds Hershey already owned - he was intending to purchase the remainder. It was just the hill that formed the southern side of the hollow which Spring Creek ran through. The pavilion, constructed by James Putt, was built on the northern edge of the hill, which provided an overlook view of the hollow and surrounding area. The pavilion was completed before the winter season took hold, as to be ready for the opening of the park in 1906. At the same time, Harry Haverstick, Hershey's gardener, was tasked with preparing walkways, trees and other plant life for the winter season, also to be prepared for opening the park in the spring of 1906. In February 1906, Hershey purchased the land from John H. Nissley which is known as Hersheypark today: the purchase included the land straddling Spring Creek in the hollow, as well as all but a few tracts of the land from the north side of Spring Creek all the way to Swatara Creek in nearby Union Deposit. Today, this land encompasses where the Giant Center, Hersheypark Arena and Stadium, as well as the former air park which is parallel to Hersheypark Drive. In March 1906, the athletic field was surveyed out by the players for the Hershey baseball club, a field which remained in that spot until the construction of Carrousel Circle in the winter of 1972. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of Hersheypark」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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